


Ailurophile

by HostisHumaniGeneris



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Just Add Kittens, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 10:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15794997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HostisHumaniGeneris/pseuds/HostisHumaniGeneris
Summary: 'Management' had been upset with her, and made her live amongst the mortals.  She hadn't taken it very well, and was doing her best to kill time until she could return to the pantheon.  Then she found the box.





	Ailurophile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



She wrapped her coat more tightly against herself and shivered against the rain.  She could’ve avoided this long walk by just materializing in her ‘home’, or she could’ve called in favors to move the storm away.  But she was supposed to live like mortals for the time being.  In mortal terms, _Management_ had taken offense at something she had done and sent here down to teach her humility.

It was supposed to be a month.  One month, at a bare fraction of her strength, living like humans did, in what was not even a particularly bad place to be a mortal.  She would’ve tolerated being a cat well, which was why _Management_ had her be a human.

Certain “abuses of her power”, as _Management_ put it, extended the time.  How was she supposed to know the average mortal couldn’t bisect a poacher with her bare hands?  She’d been ‘living like a mortal’ for two weeks now, legitimately trying to live like a mortal, when it became apparent _Management_ was not going to ignore her antics and would keep her down here.

She worked a meaningless job, that _Management_ had provided for her.  Nobody questioned the new girl—named Felicity Leone, because _Management_ sometimes was ridiculously on the nose—with zero background, friends, social connections or past, showing up to perform Know-Your-Customer reviews for banking clients.  She shopped, ate, bathed, and slept like a mortal.  And time was passing so slowly… countless millennia in the blink of an eye, a few measly weeks in an eternity.

She’d stopped trying to interface with humans beyond absolutely necessary, because she was easily bored by their prattle and nothing they did was of interest.  For entertainment she read a little; she did not watch television or use the computer; hadn’t since she’d come across the news feature on poaching, did some reading, and found herself covered in blood in the Savannah, _Management_ unhappy.

It struck her the punishment was having a little power left.  If she was truly powerless, she could manage, badly, but manage.  But if she could do something… she desperately wanted to.  Instead, she had to keep her head down to avoid seeing something that made her want to act.  So she buried her head and did the bare minimum, only leaving her apartment to work, shop, or walk when the four walls became intolerably boring to her.

That night was one of those nights; she waited until past midnight, when the storm had passed, and left her apartment.  She tirelessly walked through the city.  Nights were always better than the day.  Fewer people, most wouldn’t bother with her, and those that would… management was pretty lenient if she had to ‘defend herself’.

She had done her best to bury herself, stay blind and deaf to trouble, so she wasn’t quite sure how she first heard them.  Four plaintive voices.  She peeled down an alley, splashing water as she sprinted, hopped a fence, crossed a street without looking, down the sidewalk and into another alley.  Seeking refuge in an upturned, soaked cardboard box were four little ones. 

She hunched down on the balls of her feet, looking at them, two orange-and-white, one calico, one black.  They were cold, wet, and alone, cowering at her.  She sighed and spoke calming words and reached for them.  They were so small, so fragile.

Where was their mother?

The thought crossed her mind and before she knew it she was listening again.  The poor dears shouldn’t have been alone this long unless… she felt it in her bones.  Something pampered in a high-rise a few blocks north, two stray toms hissing at one another, the big ones at the zoo sleeping through their lazy life. 

There were plenty of mothers, but not for these ones.

Her eyes were starting to ache and water, and her heart was starting to speed up, damn mortal biology.  Cats died all the time, she tried to remind herself; even when she had the power to change that she had largely not interfered with the way the world worked, _why_ intervene now?  She looked down at the box, mouth turned down, and reached for them. 

They were back in her ‘home’ in seconds; dry and warm and safe.  It wasn’t something she was supposed to be doing, but she did not care.  She found a box to put them in and stayed with them until they were sleeping.  Then she went out again, ticking off things; she’d need to hand feed them, she’d need supplies, she’d need a lot of things.

That wasn’t enough.

She listened, harder.  Communing with the dead wasn’t her forte, especially not this weak, but she found the trail and followed it.  The sun was barely up when she found the body in the street, did what she could to let the mother know her babies would be alright.  She knew people were watching this woman sitting on a curb, crying over a dead stray, giving her a wide berth.  That was fine.

She did her best to contain her temper.  She could feel it in her bones, the car had swerved at the last second.  _Away_.  It had not been intentional.  Somehow that mattered very little to her.  It obviously didn’t matter to the kittens.

She shuddered when someone touched her shoulder and whipped around rapidly, eyes wide and angry while the person backed away, terrified.  She stormed back home.

The kittens were doing okay.

That was what she told herself.  She had found them, and they were fine.  There was no need for her to dig further, no need for her to try and figure out _who_ orphaned them.  They were putting on weight and bumbling around her home and tearing up furniture.  That was all right. 

Work was even more interminable, with the kittens at home waiting for her; and her behind a desk, waiting to go home.  But she found the time in her apartment passed rapidly, now.  The orange ones were bouncy and hyper, the calico was just a sweet girl who liked cuddling and mewing whenever she walked by the  kitchen, and the black one was still skittish.  She could calm it down easily, just a little exertion of will, but she didn’t do that.  She wanted to get him to trust her without forcing it to.

Building trust was slow, several times she had gotten overeager and only realized she was frightening the poor boy too late.  But little by little it was coming around.  The amount of time he’d wait after she’d move away from the food bowl to rush towards it was growing short, and he started to chase after toys when she threw them.

When he finally hopped up on her lap without her prompting or bribing him with a treat, it was all worth it.

When one day she returned from work, bag from the pet store in hand, she scowled when she saw the old woman sitting in  _her_ chair, with her kittens crowding around.  Sensing her unease, they all shrank back from the old woman.  It seemed, in the buzzwords she'd been having to learn, that  _Management_ was in for a review of her performance.  The old woman matched her scowl with a grin. "When We wanted you to spend more time around mortals, this isn't what We meant."

"Cats are mortals." she replied, scooping up the Calico, who had come to her feet and started plaintively mewling.  She started purring as her mistress scratched at her neck.

"True." The old woman shrugged.  "And you have been making progress.  We've noticed you've been putting for the effort and..."

"You're scaring my cats." She replied, noticing the black one hiding under the coffee table.  "If you want to talk, try doing something other than barging in my home."

"This place is your home?  I thought it was 'the gravest of all the many injustices' We performed when we sent you here." _Management_ said, smile not leaving her face.  "We think you've learned your lesson, for now.  You're welcome back whenever you want to go."

"And them?" She asked, setting the calico down and dropping to a knee.  The calico curled at her feet, and the black male padded tentatively towards her.  

"You're a goddess." Management shrugged.  "Who's going to stop you from bringing your pets along with you?"

"You."

That earned a chuckle, and she tensed up in annoyance.  _Management_ shrugged.  "We think they're a healthy influence on you, wouldn't want to sabotage all the progress you made." 

 


End file.
